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Google Confirms Small Number of Pixel Phones Have Broken Microphones (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report on The Verge: Google says that a small number of Pixel phones have broken microphones that need to be sent back for replacement. The issue is seemingly not that widespread. Google claims the issue is present on less than 1 percent of devices -- the company also announced that it would replace defective phones last month, and it went largely unnoticed until now. Google says the primary cause for Pixels having microphone issues is a "hairline crack in the solder connection on the audio codec," which causes all three of the device's mics to go out at once. The issue has apparently been known about for several months now. Google says it's been "taking additional steps to reinforce the connection" since January and that phones built or refurbished since then should be fine.
Why is this news. Manufacturers have defects all of the time. It's a small number of phones. Who cares!
It's not like they randomly bust into flames or anything.
The Pixel phones have been plagued by issue after issue. For a "premium" device the QA has been pretty terrible.
A codec is simply something that converts audio/video/whatever from one format to another. It certainly can be hardware.
I was confused too when I first used it heard to describe on-motherboard audio systems in the 1990s, but that's a legitimate use.
Ironically, most who don't think it's suitable for hardware also are the people who use it to describe formats like H.264 or AAC. You can use a (hardware or software) codec to convert something into H.264, but H.264 isn't the actual codec, it's the format.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.